We have all been reading about the Braves surplus of pitching...we are all either advocating or reading about the Braves trading from this surplus to acquire a RH bat to play LF or RF.  Yes-it would be nice to have a stud #4 hitter in RF....but ask yourself.  Do we really have a surplus of starting pitching?

 

Lowe is not young, and while he has been the bastion of health for a number of years, would it be surprising if he broke down next year?  No-He has ALOT of innings on that body.

Hudson is one year removed from Tommy John and isn't a spring chicken either.  Would we be surprised if he had one..or two stints on the DL next year?

 

Vazquez has also been very healthy and strong-but he isn't exactly young either.  He has also pitched A LOT of innings over the years.

 

KK-Seems ok

Hanson-No injury history but you also have to respect his workload next year. 

 

All that being said....do we really have "surplus."  I think the Red Sox proved that a planned "surplus" can end up being a deficit real fast.  That being said...if we made a trade and moved one of our starters-who would be the emergency #5 guy?  Medlen would have been the obvious choice but if he is going to be prepared to pitch all year in the pen we can't have him going back and forth.  He needs to really work as a bullpen guy.

 

So if we trade one of our starters...we almost have to go sign (or have someone included in the trade) that could step in and be the long guy/#5 guy in the rotation when someone goes down. 

 

Is trading a starter before spring training really a good idea then?  So unless someone is willing to unload Lowe's contract for us-as is-do we really want to move someone?

Here is a question: why are the Braves 35-40 and the Giants are 41 and 34?  I know the Giant's rotation and pitching staff in general, has been great.  However, the Braves pitching-especially the starting pitching-has been really good.  Both teams have questionable offenses.  We all know of the Braves struggles but the Giants have Rowand leading off, and Molina batting clean up. The balance of their line up consits of the likes of their Rookie 1B who has hit only 5Hrs, Fred Lewis, Randy Winn, Renteria, etc.  The only above average hitter they have is probably Sandoval.  Now I haven't gone through and looked at the run differential, looked  the schedule to date for the Giants, nor really seen much of them on TV yet so I thought I would ask this question...What are Bochy and the Giants doing to score enough runs to be 7 games above .500 that the Braves are not?  Are they running more?  Does everyone up and down the line up hit...just enough? 

 

Any thoughts on what they are doing well (besides pitching lights out)? Anything that Braves good be doing similiar to help the offense move?

 

They are now reporting that Griffey is going back to Seattle.  What is up with this...twice we have guys in hand and now we have nothing!  If Griffey wanted to go b back to Seattle why did he reach out to the Braves?  I thought he wanted to be close to family? I thought he wanted to play for Bobby Cox?  I thought he wanted another chance at the post season?

 

Were we used AGAIN to extract a few more dollars? 

 

Now what? Garrett Anderson?  No thanks.  I will take my chances and money with Jones or Schaefer.

If the season were to start today...who is our LFer? Heck you can even ask the question of who is our RF and CF the way last season went.

Joking aside we know that Frenchy starts in RF and CF will be a try out between Blanco/Schaeffer/Anderson.  However, who is honestly our LF right now? Diaz?  If we are going to do a mix and match type routine in CF and LF do we need more cheap but "upside" players?  Are the Braves looking at Brandon Jones as the dominant part of a LF platoon?

We could debate this scenario for another 6 mos but I was wondering if the Braves have actually made any kind statement or indicator as to what the company line is at the moment.

There has been a couple notes in various sources indicating that the Yankees want to liquidate some of their depth in the OF-This includes Matsui, Damon, and/or Swisher. 

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If I am Frank Wren I wake up today feeling refreshed, relieved and MOTIVATED.  Yes it would have been nice to take Burnett but as the deal went on the cost was getting out of hand for 90% of the teams in baseball.  (I think people are forgetting that he has played about the same number of games over the past few years as Sheets and is asking for a lot of money over a long period of time).  It could have been a great sign or a great bust.  But now the temptation is gone and our risk has been averted.  So now it is time to look at a couple different scenarios and move fast with confidence and direction. If I am Frank Wren waking up on this Saturday morning I see two directions...

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We have all heard the same names in the LF scenarios for the Braves:

Dye

Ludwick

Dunn

Ibanez

Ankiel

and more recently names like Hart or Hermedia have come up.  Given that many of these options appear to be expensive I was trying to look at some other options that may not have been mentioned but could provide some more creative solutions to the issues.

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The bench was discussed on the telecast a good bit today and Wren brought up the need to have a proven PH on the bench. Someone that could strike some fear into the opposition when trying to determien match ups.

That being said I am not sure would might be available.  I went through and was thinking abotu what teams need pitching and what team might take on a free swinging LH 1B with potential power upside.

Then it came to me: the Giants.  They need EVERYTHING.  So would Rich Aurillia fill the need of PH and back up corner infielder for the Braves? If so, would the Giants be willing to part with him for one of the Braves's extra arms and Thorman? Given how thin they look everywhere the could probably take someone like Thorman on and give him a few ABs in the hope of catching lightning in a bottle.  Aurillia has no value for them as they are going to finish dead last anyway with that offense. I don't care how good your Starting pitching is.

I honestly don't think Chipper hamstring is serious.  But again, it begs the question. When he does get injured who is going to play 3B? I am guessing that Prado is the most obvious choice for extended playing time. Especially early in the season as Infante is still not even available.  I would argue that if Chipper actually went on the DL that Infante can't hit enough to be an option either.  Prado, however, I think can hold his own with the bat as a #8 hitter. Otherwise; who else is there?  Pena?  

This is one area I would have loved to see the Braves expand on. If just a little.  Looking at the bench right now I just don't see that go to pinch hitter like a Dwight Smith, or a Franco of years past.  Diaz had been that guy the last couple of years but with him in a quasi regular role I don't think they have that person.

I think we all saw last year the horror of watching Woodard, Thorman and Orr come up and swing...and swing with absolute futility as pinch hitters.  Harris was hot for a little while and when Diaz wasn't starting he was a PH extraordinaire.  However, who is that person going to be this year?
Infante?  Infante may be a hell of a glove guy and can play everything but closer but he is not a "professional bat off the bench."  His career OBP is .298. He is still young and could get better but my hunch is that he will hit ..well...not so good.

Lopez could actually be the solution as the primary bat off the bench, but is Bobby going to let his back up catcher take a crack in the game early? If that is the case does that mean that Sammons catches on as the #3 catcher and eat up that roster spot?  

Ideally this is where I would like to have seen one more signing...one more trade.  

I just saw that Cintron got signed by the Cubs.  Funny how that works.  We trade to get Infante and they take our prospect and sign Cintron for little or nothing?  I realize that Infante is far better with the glove. However, Cintron to me could be a serviceable PH/Bench player. He is a switch hitter.  He can play multiple positions.  He has a little pop and he makes contact. I realize that his OBP is also poor at .313 but he doesn't strike out.  I tend to believe that this has value for a pinch hitter.  He could also have been someone who could have filled in at 3B if Chipper went down and not have destroyed the line up.

However, now that Cintron is gone who would I like to see for the Braves bench:

1. Jeff Kippinger: The guy does nothing but HIT. He can play multiple positions and hold his own. He doesn't strike out has a little pop...and did I mention that the man can hit?  He could also be a platoon option for KJ at 2B when the urge to platoon strikes Bobby( That is a joke. Please don't platoon KJ again this year!).  He is also a nice insurance policy if Chipper goes down. I don't want to imagine Chipper being out for 2 weeks and Inante getting 40 ABs. I doubt that he would be available from the Reds right now given that the Reds see themselves as potential contenders, but he would have been nice.
2. Robert Fick/Vinnie Rottino/Javier Valentin/Eric Munson/Matt LeCroy All of these guys are kind of the same guy: Not really good catchers but perhaps enough of a bat to help out and be a possible pinch hit option.  Even better is that most of these guys were so bad as catchers that they also learned other positions.  This would be valuable for depth of bench.  It would also allow Bobby to use Javy Lopez early as a PH because he would have someone (besides Matt Diaz) that could catch if needed.
3. Mike Sweeney: I think Mike wants more of a fulltime job but if he would take a role as the Braves primary PH bat and occasional AL DH he would be great. He has said he would be willing to put on the tools of ignorance every once in a while if needed; again a way to have a 3rd catcher on the team without having to waste a roster spot.
4. Shannon Stewart: He can still hit and run a little. He is just not a good OFer anymore. If we have a bench with Brandon Jones and Omar Inante then you could get away with sending Josh Anderson and Greg Blanco to AAA for more work.  If Kotsay got banged up either Infante or Brandon Jones would be able to get you by for a couple of innings..maybe even a game in CF.  Why not put a valuable bat in that roster seat and give Josh Anderson or Blanco an opportunity to get ABs not sit on the bench and only get 85 ABs for the year.  The only way either would get significant time would be if Kotsay got hurt. In that case they can take the Richmond shuttle in and be there in a day. Not a big deal.
5. Mark Lorretta: I think the Astros had to go to Arbitration with him and it probably ended up costing them some money. They are not going to contend this year.  If they would be willing to trade him for a bag of balls and the braves pay his salary. I would take it. He can play the infield and is a good hitter.  Again could be a gapstop at 3B if Chipper gets hurt.
6. Greg Norton: He is one of these guys that comes along and produces every couple of years.  He has put together a couple good years for Tampa Bay coming off their bench. He is a switch hitter and could not kill himself playing 3B/1B/RF/LF.  

I am open to other ideas but I think this is an area that could have been easy, cheap and a very effective way to improve the Braves team as a whole and they haven't done it yet.